Tone and Voice Clarity in Presentation
Your tone defines the general style and format of your presentation. Many audiences make their minds from the first minutes before they are provided with full explanation about the corresponding subject. This preference of mind is simply based upon your tone. So, it’s imperative to use an appropriate tone in each situation and for each audience. In addition to your tone, you need to pay attention to your speech’s clarity to yield the best result out of the presentation.
Don’t have a monotonous voice. Raise and lower your tone. What matters is knowing when to slow your speech pace or raise your voice to grab your audience’s attention. Mark in different pages of the scratchpad you have at hand, and leave instructions for yourself about what to do at which part of the speech. For example, an arrow at the side of the text means you should raise your voice or rise your intonation, or a dot with a circle around it means you need to pause.
Then, you can use the proper tone by lots of practice. Avoid drawling during the presentation because the audience won’t listen and it will just bore them. Your tone must suit the type of audience you are dealing with. For example, the tone used in front of a young team of a newly formed startup can be intimate and casual.
However, a formal tone is more appropriate in an official meeting with a governmental organization’s senior managers. Be clear. Clarity is regarded in two parts: in writing and in speech. In writing: use clear and legible font with suitable size so it would be readable, and write things briefly so they would be comprehensible. In speech: record your voice and check how much clear you speak and how much the way you talk is hearable and comprehensible for the audience.
Make sure you fix your drawbacks by practice. Some people are used to mumbling or mispronouncing or not pronouncing words completely. Swallowing your words makes the audience dislike your presentation or miss your key words. Furthermore, speaking unclearly shows lack of confidence or lack of proficiency over the presentation, which leaves a bad impression on the audience. Practice well to speak clear and raise and lower your voice appropriately; then, listen to yourself to find your drawbacks.